Another Shadow
by DeathBallerinaAmy
Summary: When something is imperfect, you shove it out of the light, and show everyone else... The perfect one


**I'd like to thank Lisa The Hedgehog, reading a bit of her story gave me this idea. I hope she'll read this and like it! Thank you!**

**Oh, I've never studied a plane, but I got a bit of help... I hope it's okay!**

**Disclaimer: Sonic and all related characters do not belong to me, the nameless hedgehog belongs to me I guess...**

**Inside Prison Island**

Red lights flashed everywhere in the hallway; a single human rushed down the empty passage, the soles of his shoes clamoured against the cold metal floor quite loudly.

His breathing was laboured; he had been running for quite some time. His hair was rather messy and it was quite difficult to discern what colour it was, also, a large scientist coat was tightly fitted around his shoulders and reached to his ankles. He looked quite like a child.

The man dashed over to a square numbered panel, he quickly punched in the numbers... 1, 8, 1, 5, 2, 1, 5, 2, 0, 1, 4, 9, 1, 1.

"There!" He pressed the enter key and the light beside the panel turned from red to yellow, a slight click sounded inside and the light flashed to a bright green.

The door was opening slowly; the scientist ran through before they even finished opening. The room was dark, only a few lights on the ceiling zapped to life for a short time, then died out.

The man walked quickly up to an old looking computer, its screen slowly buzzed to life, a program opened, several names of programs trailed up the screen.

"Operate... Operate..." He watched the screen intently, whilst in the hallway, the alarms still screamed. "Operate...There!" He quickly ran his fingers over the dusty keyboard and pressed a few keys, he spoke as he tapped the keys.

"Ro-bot-nik..." He muttered and pressed the enter key and clapped his hands together, dust fell silently from his bare hands, a mechanism grinded somewhere nearby, a platform began lifting from the depths of the darkness.

_'A bomb has been set inside the premises, everyone please evacuate to the nearest exit to the shuttles. Repeat...'_

The man growled and shook his head as the message repeated itself; the platform in front of the computer finally finished lifted to the level he was on... A capsule sat on the platform.

The man approached the capsule as it opened in half, cold air rushed out and the man shivered and took a step back as the capsule opened fully.

"Awaken..."

**? POV**

Everything was silent; it had been so for such a long time. It was like time had frozen, but I knew it was still moving, I just... Was not.

My mind was contemplating over my past, how I hated _them_ so, of how _they_ treated me; and how they treated _him_.

I hated him so; he was always so perfect... So pure...

_"Awaken..."_

My mind suddenly became alert; the coldness from my prison was beginning to wane; a small tube attached to the wall pumped some type of liquid into my blood. I could feel warmth overflowing my body, my once frozen limbs, felt rather numb. I managed to move my arms, my elbows had an odd feeling to them, but I pushed myself up to a sitting position.

"Finally... Now, you must escape."

It was that voice again, and it spoke rather urgently, I turned to look at a figure looming over nearby. "...Who?" I queered and the tall stranger shook its head, the darkness of the room covered any possibility at looking at him properly.

"Look, nothing matters right now, except that you get out of here... Now go!"

I stood up, slowly my legs regained their former strength, I clenched my fists and stepped out of my prison, a few tubes still attached to me broke off and dangled at the side of the capsule.

"What is wrong?" I asked and looked up at the dark figure, it ran a hand through the large amount of hair on its head.

"Someone has set bombs onto the premises, there isn't enough time to disarm them." It sighed, a slight amount of agitation joined the tone of its voice, my ears tilted back, I hated it when someone spoke like that to me.

"What about you?" I managed to whisper; I hoped he wouldn't get angry with me. But it simply shrugged its small shoulders and walked over to a computer nearby, it pushed the keys rapidly on the keyboard and motioned for me to come closer. I stepped over warily and joined him at the front of the computer; the man pointed to an arrangement of dark coloured squares on the screen.

"This is where we are, you have five minutes to get..." His finger moved over to another dark square, he looked at me. Still, I could not see his face. "This is the shipping area, there are ships, rockets and planes in there. You have to get there... As quick as possible." He muttered and tapped the screen; I stared at the screen for a moment and nodded.

"I will go then. Thank you." I whispered and the human nodded, I turned and ran outside the exit. Instantly shocked by the noise and flashing lights, the hallways dark and dim, but the lights flashed every second to relight the passage. I looked to my right... That was the pathway I was to take... I wasn't going to fail... Not this time...

I sped down the hallway at full speed; the flashing of the lights seemed more intense at such a speed, but still a bit dim... To me...

I came across a door. This was the door I was supposed to take... It was rather large... Like the ones I remember...

The door opened quickly, revealing a large warehouse, only the constant flicker of lights could tell me it was larger than I could see. A few metres in front of me... stood a few rockets. Behind those... Planes… and a few ships, in various sizes.

_'A bomb has been set inside the premises, everyone please evacuate to the nearest exit to the shuttles. Two minutes until detonation. Warning.'_

The message repeated; I didn't hear it well as I rushed over to a plane. It was a new model, the controls... Were complicated, but it was operational, and that was all that mattered right now. I hopped into the cockpit, after pushing a few random buttons, the engine started with a sputter.

I gripped the joystick, carefully; I pushed the stick slightly forward. The plane began moving; I sighed and slowly steered my way around the obstacles. The message replayed over the intercom yet again. My time was running short as I steered to a large opening leading to a long highway.

I eventually managed to steer the plane onto the highway... It was not what I expected. There were ruined robots everywhere... Broken walls, destroyed robots... The scene made me feel a bit disturbed. I held the joystick tightly and warily I steered along the highway, the plane rocked violently as I ran over a few pieces of rubble.

_'A bomb has been set inside the premises, everyone please evacuate to the nearest exit to the shuttles. One minute until detonation...Warning.'_

My ears fell back, I pushed harder on the stick and sped up the plane, and a sour tang hit the back of my throat as a tear set itself in the corner of my eyes. The message repeated, I was running out of time, I looked around frantically. A blue plane was just taking off... I was still on the ground!

I pushed the stick as far as it would go; finally the plane sped up. A shocking rumble was sent throughout the whole area, then, explosions erupted from inside, I was too late! The explosion came faster than I had ever seen; I ducked inside the cockpit and felt the searing heat of the wave, and it was burning through my escape. I can't fail... I can't...

The explosions shoved the plane along with it; I could no longer feel my left arm. I clenched my teeth and I crouched deeper inside... I soon lost consciousness...

**Sometime Later**

I didn't know where I was, or how I got here... But somehow, I lived that ordeal... I don't even see my plane around any more...

I was lying on grass, that's as far as I knew, everything else was far too dark to see. I sighed and sat up, the wind moved silently along and I heard the rustling of many trees. So I was in a forest of some kind.

I stood up, how is it I could get away from such a disaster, perfectly fine?

I looked to what I've never seen before... The sky... The halved moon? It was the only thing I could see in the darkness clouding my vision; I was partially blind... In a different way than anyone could think possible... but I only see people as dark tall figures... I could never tell whether one was female or male.

But_ him..._ _He_ was always so perfect, I could never understand it, but I could see him perfectly... And _her_... She was Ark's Angel... I closed my eyes and shook my head, that didn't matter right now, I was told never to dwell on my past.

I jumped skilfully to the top of a nearby tree, surveying the area provided quite interesting, I even managed to open my mouth in slight interest as I looked to the sky, then my mouth turned to a scowl...

"Shadow..." I growled, an orb of orange light was high in the sky, getting closer as every few seconds passed. It approached closer and closer; I could see him! Yet again, he was doing something spectacular... Another tear pricked my eyes... He was a silver white; I could see him from here, how he glowed so brightly... Like _she_ used to... But I knew she was gone, I knew everyone was gone, I had kept track of time in my frozen state of mind.

The Ark fell closer and closer; finally, I could see them all the more clearly. There was another... But I could only see his shadow in the light of the constant speeding Ark, they came together, something brilliant flashed between them... And they were gone!

I looked around, my heart thumping hard from the shock, but I soon spotted it reappear... Something was wrong though... I looked back to where it was before...

_'No...'_ I quickly pounded my fist onto a branch and jumped forward, higher and higher I climbed, until I neared a city that I have no idea how I got so close to. But I climbed a tall building by running speedily up the side, as I got to the top, I looked to the sky again.

He was falling! My ears fell back in fear; he could not survive...

_"SHADOW!"_ I yelled at the top of my lungs, anger filling me... _I_ was supposed to defeat him... _I_ was going to take his place; it wasn't fair!

I beat my fists into the concrete, and looked again, he was gone! How? But...

I watched the Ark, as it hung in the sky, I watched for hours. I was used to it... It was the only thing I could do back then.

A spaceship left it not long ago, but still I watched the Ark.

_I must get up there..._

I could hear the people cheering as the spaceship landed somewhere nearby, with all the passengers' safe... Except... _He_ wasn't on board. I knew he wasn't.

A frown kept itself on my face; I wasn't pleased.

I waited for the people below to stop cheering; everything began to calm down, as it became dark, I finally decided to move. I jumped off the building easily, landing gracelessly onto the pavement with a loud thud. Someone gasped. Great... I was spotted.

"Shadow?"

I clenched my fist at the female's voice and looked in front of me, a few objects were strewn on the ground. A dark figure stood in front of me, she tilted her head and leaned in to take a closer look at me.

"I am _not_ Shadow..." I muttered and she quickly took a step back, apologising quickly and picking up the items on the ground. "Sorry, it's just, you look just like him." She said rather sadly but looked to me in a happier manner.

"Well... Um... What's your name?" She asked and I shook my head.

"I don't have one."

"What?" She stepped closer, I clenched my fist tighter and felt my heart sink.

"I don't have one." I repeated and she tilted her head again.

"Why don't you name yourself then?" She urged and I shook my head.

"I wasn't given a name... I was going to take..._ His..._" I muttered and before she could ask another question, I ran.

I had managed to find the ship that came from Ark, it was one I could understand; I had seen many ships like the one they used. The area was darker, since it was night. It was something special... This night, as I snuck into the ship and into the cockpit.

It took all night, but I managed to take the ship back to Ark, I don't think anyone took any notice of its disappearance.

**Ark**

I stepped onto the familiar metal flooring, breathing in deeply; I could recognise all the metallic scents. I ran forward, all the lights were still on, and I was headed to the control room.

As I entered the large room, memories forced themselves back into my mind, I shook my head and continued forth. I ran my gloved hand over the control panels, quickly tapping in Co-ordinates. Then I thought at what I was doing, what was I doing?

'_Set Co-ordinates please.'_ A holograph screen projected in front of me, the Earth was a small ball, the full moon nearby. Then I thought on something and quickly ran to the window, as I thought, the moon was halved. But... it was_ her_ favourite thing; she loved how it shone when the sun directed its light on it.

_"I wish the Ark could shine like that... Wouldn't it be beautiful? Shadow?"_

I bit my lip as the memory rushed into my mind... She always talked to him; she never even met me properly...

An idea struck my head; I knew what I could do... To make her notice me, to make her know whom I was...

I dashed back to the holograph image of the Earth and moon. "Set course for," I thought for a moment, then pressed the image of the moon. "There." I muttered to myself, and the computer complied.

_'Command recognised, shifting thrusters... Complete... Please wait...'_

The computer's screen changed to something else; I looked to the floor and slowly drifted out of the room, this. What I had done just now... Was going to kill me... But that was all right, as long as _she_ was going to be happy.

I suddenly snapped back to where I was... I had wandered somewhere unknown... I looked around... This place wasn't unknown; I was in front of...Her room.

I stepped inside, it was clean and tidy... And light... Her room was so bright, as always, no darkness ever touched her soul. I wandered to the window and looked out... The moon was closer now; I had sent the Ark on a collision course to the moon.

I walked over to her bed and sat atop it, it was soft, so soft, like her hair. She was always such an angel...

I looked at the floor, a box sat on the floor; I recognised it immediately and picked it up. I opened it slowly; revealing a hand made friendship bracelet, in golden thread spelt along the band... It said... 'Little Angel'. I felt a tear, trickle down my cheek, I had made this for her, to notice me. I looked at my gloves and my shoes, both, surprisingly, were handmade.

I was never given anything; _he_ had gotten special gloves and shoes... I had found needles and thread and an old scientist coat... To make my gloves, they were old and torn, but the stitching was still quite obvious, and badly done. My shoes were made out of a stronger material I had found so long ago; they were falling apart.

I looked up to my reflection in her window. I hated how I looked, every time I saw myself, it reminded me of how much weaker I was to him. My quills drooped lower than his... I didn't have red stripes. And my eyes... They were a weak grey; I was weak...

He was always better than me; he always got attention no matter what he did. But her, she always gave him so much love and kindness. But she... Never noticed me... Never saw me in the darkness, where the scientists had shoved me.

I remember the last time I saw her. I was going to give her the bracelet I held in my hands.

_I crept out from the shadows; she stood just outside her room, smiling as always._

_"... M- Maria?" I slowly stepped near her, but fear kept me a few steps away, she turned to me and smiled. So she knew me._

_She was about to speak, but red lights suddenly flashed, I turned to see Shadow rush up to her side._

_"It's GUN! Maria!" He yelled and took her hand and rushed down the hallway, she looked back at me but continued running alongside her friend. Tears filled my eyes and the box dropped from my hand, I could hear people rushing behind me. Someone grabbed me and injected something into my arm, I began to feel numb. They began to drag me away, I watched my box; they ran down the hallway that she had gone... I still watched my box; tears still fell down my cheeks... I never got to give it to her._

_"Maria!"_

I opened my eyes, and felt like I had just woken, I was lying on her bed with her bracelet in my hand; I could see the moon getting closer in her window. I pulled the blanket up to my chest and hugged it; it was so soft. Tears fell freely from my eyes.

"Maria..." I sobbed and hugged the blanket tightly, she was killed... I knew she was...But why?

I bit my lip and looked outside to the moon.

'_Warning, collision in 5, 4, 3...'_

I continued to stare outside the window.

'_2, 1.'_

_Maria... I love you..._


End file.
